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Moose on the Porch Quilts!

My name is Konda Luckau. I have been long arm quilting for many years, and now I am writing pattern books. This started when I fell in love with charm packs a few years ago. I am sure many of you can relate. Most of my patterns are written for charm squares (except you can make your own charm squares out of layer cakes, fat quarters, yardage, or scraps). Check out my books at my website:
http://www.moosequilts.com/

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Tuesday, January 11, 2011

Block Six with Toby Lischko

This is one of those weeks where I say, "Thank heavens for a quilt along!" I say this because the only time I made it to my sewing machine in the last two weeks is to make this quilt block. So sad! I got fabric in the mail yesterday for some of the quilts for my next book so I hope to spend some quality time with my sewing machine today.

Oh, but you want to see block six! Okay, here goes. . .

Block six is brought to us by Toby Lischko. Toby made a block for our Jelly Roll Sampler and then came back for another round! If you have picked up a quilt magazine in the last few years, you have seen Toby's work, but I'll let Toby introduce herself.

Here's Toby!

Hi, I’m Toby Lischko. Konda was nice enough to let me participate in both the Jelly Roll Sampler and the Layer Cakes Sampler! For those of you that don’t know me, I have been quilting since 1985 and designing quilts and teaching since 1995. You may have seen some of my designs in the major quilt magazines. I didn’t pay much attention to who made the quilts in the magazines until I started getting published and now I always make a point to see who the quilt artist is (and anyone who makes a quilt is an artist!)

I come from a long line of sewers; my mother and her father both did tailor work (lots of hand work) but I am the first quilter in my family. Always a crafter; I have been doing some type of craft since I was 7 or 8 years old. You name the craft and I have tried it. Quilting is the one craft that I have stuck to the longest and find the most rewarding. It never gets boring, and I love to design quilts!

My block is a part of a design that is in a free pattern on Timeless Treasures website http://www.ttfabrics.com/ called Pointing the way. You can download the pattern from there. The block is very easy to construct and is purposely made a little larger so you can cut it to size. You also have the option of using my Cutting Corners template set to eliminate the need to draw a diagonal sewing line.

I started my website http://www.gatewayquiltsnstuff.com/ 2 years ago and my blog http://gatewayquiltsnstuff.blogspot.com/ 1 year ago. I do not post often but try to incorporate some lesson in each blog. You can find basic lessons on accurate piecing and my favorite and specialty, curved piecing. If you like samplers I have a new published one in Fons & Porters Love of Quilting called Civil War Sampler. Great for those who love Civil War reproduction fabrics. The collection is by Pat Nickols for RJR called Civil War Ladies. Both Fons & Porter and I carry the kits for it.

Enjoy making the blocks in this sampler. Thank you Konda for including me again. I loved seeing the blocks people created with my Jelly Roll design. There are a lot of very creative quilters out there! As I say in my blog “Always do what you love and love what you do”.

Here's a picture of my block. I know some of you are getting nervous about having enough material to finish the quilt. I think will be alright. I used this block to illustrate what I mean. In this block, I picked fabrics that aren't my favorite -- the small pink flowers and the stripe. There was just enough left from cutting the inside pieces to cut the corner squares. Then the blue pieces are scraps from other blocks. The green was from a new square, but it left a large piece left for something else. Since we are halfway now, maybe you have some scraps to start working in.

Now, if you don't want to use some of your less favorite pieces or want to have more control over colors, there may not be enough for that. I heard some of you are grabbing a few extra fat quarters. That is definitely an option. Up to you. I like having choices.

Anyway, here's my block:

In Toby's post, she said she designed this block for Timeless Treasures. It was a 9" block. She added the border just for us. Here is the picture of the quilt:

Isn't that fun to see what a whole quilt looks like using the block! Also, Toby mentioned her Cutting Corners Template. Here is a picture of what that looks like.

So what happens next?

Well, any pictures posted in the flickr group by tonight will be entered into the first drawing. About 10 ish tonight (Mountain Time) I will post my Block FIVE. All blocks BEFORE mine are those entered into the first drawing. It doesn't matter which block - just the one's posted before mine. If you post your block AFTER mine, then it will be entered into the next drawing. I will post the winners tomorrow.

What's up for grabs this time?

Toby has donated one of her Cutting Corners Templates as our prize tomorrow! Thanks Toby!

What do I have? Let's see. . . I think I have a layer cake hiding in my sewing room that needs a new home. Are you back to sewing so you can give my layer cake a good home?

In regards to the instructions, yes they were written for a whole quilt. I forgot to take out a few words. You can stack 2 squares together one dark or medium and one light, and cut them out at the same time. The other instruction had to do with step 2 of the piecing instructions. You only need to make 1 not 20!. Feel free to ask any other questions about the directions. Sorry I didn't make that clearer. Toby

It looks like an amazing block! I've read over the instructions but haven't started yet......thanks for the clarification. I was wondering too :). I love the whole quilt made from this block....it's going on my list of new projects to start!

Would someone please clarify the size of the finished block? If we square the middle section to 9.5" then add 2" of sashing, won't the unfinished block be 11" and the finished block be 10.5"? Is this right or am I getting something wrong? Thanks!

Suzanna,The center is 9.5" so after it is sewn, it's 9." The border is cut 2" which means there is a 1.5" border on 2 sides so 1.5 + 9 + 1.5=12." Just right!Quilting in the pines,Sorry you are disappointed. I thought it was a fun block, but feel free to substitute.